Kuala Lumpur: WWF expresses its profound concern over China’s recent announcement that it has legalised the use of tiger bone and rhino horn from captive bred animals by hospitals, and domestic trade in antique tiger and rhino products.

WWF urgently calls on China to maintain the ban on tiger bone and rhino horn trade which has been so critical in conserving these iconic species. This should be expanded to cover trade in all tiger parts and products.

“It is deeply concerning that China has reversed its 25-year old tiger bone and rhino horn ban, allowing a trade that will have devastating consequences globally,” said Margaret Kinnaird, WWF Wildlife Practice Leader.

“Trade in tiger bone and rhino horn was banned in 1993. The resumption of a legal market for these products is an enormous setback to efforts to protect tigers and rhinos in the wild."

"China's experience with the domestic ivory trade has clearly shown the difficulties of trying to control parallel legal and illegal markets for ivory. Not only could this lead to the risk of legal trade providing cover to illegal trade, this policy will also stimulate demand that had otherwise declined since the ban was put in place.”

Both tiger bone and rhino horn were removed from the traditional Chinese medicine pharmacopeia in 1993, and the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies released a statement in 2010 urging members not to use tiger bone or any other parts from endangered species.

Even if restricted to antiques and use in hospitals, this trade would increase confusion by consumers and law enforcers as to which products are and are not legal, and would likely expand the markets for other tiger and rhino products.

In Malaysia, poaching driven by the illegal wildlife trade has and is still the most critical threat to Malayan tigers.

“We cannot afford to lose any more Malayan tigers. Legalising domestic trade of tiger bone in China will stimulate demand and likely intensify the snaring and poaching of wild tigers and other wildlife in Malaysia, which is already at a crisis level,” said Dr Mark Rayan Darmaraj, Tiger Landscape Lead of WWF-Malaysia.

The high demand for tiger parts has likely increased illegal poaching through the use of snare traps in Malaysia’s forests. In July this year, six Vietnamese poachers believed to be a part of an illegal network and targeting mainly wild tigers were arrested.

There are currently only as few as 250 – 240 Malayan tigers left in the wild, down from an estimated 3,000 back in the 1950s.

“With wild tiger and rhino populations at such low levels and facing numerous threats, legalised trade in their parts is simply too great a gamble for China to take. This decision seems to contradict the leadership China has shown recently in tackling the illegal wildlife trade, including the closure of their domestic ivory market, a game changer for elephants warmly welcomed by the global community,” Kinnaird added.

WWF further calls on China to set a clear plan and timeline to close existing captive tiger breeding facilities used for commercial purposes. Such tiger farms pose a high risk to wild tiger conservation by complicating enforcement and increasing demand in tiger products.

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